Lila Gives Me a Scare

Lila gave me a real scare this afternoon by drinking turpentine.

This morning someone came by to drop off a box with paint and supplies as we are going to paint the house soon. I had it placed in the guest bedroom (which is also where the balcony is; the kids go in the room all the time) and left it there as it didn’t fit under the bed. I didn’t check the box closely and never noticed the bottle of turpentine sitting there. I don’t know if it was open or closed, though it must have been closed or else I would have smelled it.

Around 3:30 p.m., Logan and Lila were running around playing. They had skipped their nap and were rather wild. Scarlett was fussy, only wanting me to hold her and not letting me put her down. Logan and Lila were playing on the balcony and running in and out of the house.

Next thing I know, Lila dropped something and was coughing. I smelled it and immediately got scared, not knowing what I should do, only that I had to do something fast. I picked her up and tried to wash her mouth out, then I thought maybe she should throw up. I didn’t know how much she had swallowed. I’m guessing a mouthful. She was coughing and spitting, and I was almost frantic until I saw how scared Logan was. He was crying and freaking out like he does when he sees someone else freak out. Somehow it affects him. It didn’t help that Scarlett was screaming for me either.

Then I remembered our neighbors downstairs. Both our landlord and his son are paediatricians, so I grabbed Lila and the bottle, told Logan to watch Scarlett, and ran downstairs to see who was home. Our landlord was out so I ran to his son’s place hoping he was home. Thank God he was. His wife immediately sent her daughter, who sometimes plays with my kids, up to our place as both Logan and Scarlett were crying. The main thing he said was that she shouldn’t throw up to avoid getting it into her lungs, then to give her milk. I have heard of that before; it seems to help neutralize the poison. He said if I took her to a hospital they would do an x-ray to make sure her lungs were clear, then tell me to watch her, make sure she was breathing ok, etc.

He wasn’t freaked out about it, which helped me calm down. So I took her upstairs to try to get some milk into her, since she wouldn’t drink what his wife gave her. On top of it I had to try to calm Logan and Scarlett as well. I sat Lila in front of the t.v. and she had a few sips of milk while I distracted Scarlett. Soon she got into the cartoon and I was able to put Scarlett to sleep; then Lila got tired and took a nap on the couch. I was finally able to turn to Logan and give him some attention to help calm him down.

After her nap, Lila was fussy but seemed to be ok, until she threw up during dinner. She hadn’t wanted to eat so was on my lap when it happened. Logan again freaked out, probably more due to his own tiredness, so I put him in his room to cut some of the noise since all 3 of them were crying again. He eventually fell asleep. After a quick bath, both girls fell asleep on my lap in the space of 5 minutes, Scarlett nursing and Lila cuddling. Peace and quiet ensued, and it was only 9 p.m. This is unheard of in our house.

It is now 10 p.m., all the kids are still sleeping, and I finally have a chance to reflect on the events of this afternoon. I really should have checked the box. Lila gets into EVERYTHING these days and is accustomed to helping herself to water from the bottles in the fridge. So she assumed it was water and drank it. Good thing I was right there when it happened so I could help her right away instead of trying to guess what had happened.

I have now closed the box and put something heavy on it to at least hinder her from getting into it until we can find a safer place to put it. Ahhh, the things children do to keep us on our toes and test our nerves!